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Click here for a link to Austin's CV, as well as a complete list of his peer-reviewed publications with links to related posts and/or ungated versions (when available).

Welcome news on the research front

January 11, 2013 at 8:54 am

Aaron Carroll

This blog is all about using research and evidence to guide policy. One of the difficulties in reforming gun regulations is the lack of a research base to help us make informed decisions. Austin has previously noted why that is so. This is welcome news:

When Vice President Joseph R. Biden offered an update Thursday about recommendations he is preparing for President Obama to help combat gun violence, he alluded to an issue that few people know about outside of a small academic community: barriers to federal financing of research into firearms.

Among the items that Mr. Biden said the Gun Violence Commission is exploring include “the ability of any agency to do research on the issue of gun violence.”

Mr. Biden was referencing the difficulty that federal agencies—most notably, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—have in doing any research into firearms violence and its causes.

Great move to be looking at this. Hope we can break through this wall. Isn’t it a great example of the power of lobbyists: make it illegal (by explicitly denying funding) to gather information for research on gun violence.